And the Slithy Toves
by Grapesy
Summary: The Prewett twins have been inseparable since birth, so trying to mess with that status quo doesn't sit well AT ALL with a young Fabian when he has a nightmare.


Fabian felt himself bolting upwards in a cold sweat, letting out a gasp before he even fully registered the fact that he was now awake. This came as both a blessing and a curse; he suddenly being able to remember bits and pieces from the nightmare he'd just been having, while at the same time thankfully pulled from that hellish dream. Now startlingly awake, this really did nothing to do away with the gripping fear that had woken him up. Instead it made every shadow in his room seem more menacing than it really was, every noise in the old house magnify and make him sure something terrible was hiding somewhere nearby. The worst of which was the sound of wind whistling through a crack in his window, so high-pitched it sounded like some sort of shriek. The shriek of some horrible beast that was surely coming to get him and eat him and then he'd never be able to go back to Hogwarts after Christmas hols and something disastrous would happen to Gideon or Molly because he wouldn't be there to ensure their protection!

Slightly irrational on any given day and in any given situation, right now he couldn't grasp the fact that these thoughts were all laughable at best. No, he was just aware of the fact that he was awake. Awake and alone in his room. The very same room that was probably some sort of death trap. Fabian was not a fan of these 'facts' when they were lined up like this. Pressing his lips together into a thin line as his brow furrowed, he sunk back down into his bed and pulled the covers up to his ears. Almost as if a habit - which is was - those blue eyes searched out the other side of the room. Until their parents had insisted on them having their own rooms this summer before their first year, that was the half of the room that had belonged to Gideon. Now he was just across the hall, but that offered the youngest Prewett no comfort currently. Staring so intently at what was now a space filled with random clutter in an attempt to make it look less _empty_, one would think he was trying to make his twin materialise there.

It didn't work. He hadn't really expected it to, but still. To say that this was disappointing was an understatement, and sent another wave of worry over him at the simply fact that Gideon wasn't there. Not that he was in some far, far away land, but he wasn't _here_ and that was the part that mattered.

Curling further into himself, it was the wind suddenly picking up that made him jump as that horrid noise turned into a scream. His heart now beating even faster against the inside of his chest, he found that he didn't really even know what to be scared of at this point, only the fact that he didn't feel safe at all. Finding safety became his top priority, leading to him carefully crawling out of his bed in case something was waiting underneath it, then walking as silently as possible to his bedroom door and peeking his head out to make sure there was nothing in the hallway either. Which included beasts with razor sharp claws & gnashing teeth _or_ his parents that might, for whatever reason, still be up at this hour. They certainly didn't equal safety, because all they would give him were harsh words about staying up past him bed time and send him back into his room.

There was noone there, however, and for a moment he just stood there taking in the darkened hallway. He knew that directly next to his room lay his big sister's and past that, the washroom. To the right was the staircase leading downstairs, but that was of no care to him. It was the closed door parallel to his own that cared about, knowing fair and well that that was where his brother was sleeping. And that's were he needed to go, because that's where safety lay.

Not even bothering to shut his door behind him, he cleared those few feet in record time, practically throwing open the adjacent door and then pressing it closed behind him. The considerable noise it made didn't wake Gideon, and he knew it wouldn't seeing as the other could sleep through a dragon crashing into his room. Once inside, that anxiety that had begun to creep up on him began to dissipate slowly, but not entirely. So he padded barefoot across the cool floor to stand at the side of Gideon's bed where the other laid sprawled out on his side. There was a relieved sigh taken before he picked up the corner of those covers and lifted them some, only to find they were being held in place by a death grip. That simply wouldn't do.

With a harsh yank, he pulled those covers towards him with enough strength to pry them from his brother's hands, lifting it to climb under them. Except he ran into another problem- _someone_ taking up the entire bed. Frowning, he leaned forward enough to place his free hand on Gideon's shoulder and shake him gently. This yielded no results, causing him to go with one giant shove. "Move," he got out in a mixture of a whinge and a command. That was all it took for the one lying down to start slightly before realising it was only Fabian that had tried to wake him, knowing this routine far too well. Shifting himself closer to the other edge of the bed, he rolled over so that his back was facing the one moving into the space he had just been occupying.

That was all the invitation he needed for Fabian to move under the covers and curl them up with his hands resting under his chin. For some reason, this room didn't seem so scary, but the thought that something could be hiding in those shadows still wouldn't entirely go away. Eyes darting around to all of the likely suspects, he swallowed roughly. "Gid?" That only got him a few mumbled words that even if he had understood them, wouldn't have made any bit of sense. "_Gid_," he all but hissed, not getting any sort of response this time, which meant that his older brother had already drifted off once more.

Fabian's frown deepened until he wriggled about a bit and felt a warm back pressing up against his own. Holding in his breath, he could feel Gideon's ribcage expand and contract with each inhale and exhale, this being the rhythm he tried to mimic when he found his lungs craving air. It took a minute or so, but finally he was able to match that beat, it now being more in focus than his heart that had started to calm itself finally. How exactly long he lay there staring off into space was unknown to him, but as he felt his eyes drooping shut, Fabian opened his mouth enough to whisper a tiny, "G'night." He knew the other wouldn't hear him, but that was okay; he was there - just within touch - so that was really all that mattered.


End file.
